So I bought a $49 helmet cam on our favorite auction site and gave it a test run today before the thunderstorms hit. Not too good but it's a start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEyEtUmIl2I

 

Nice job Dao! That is a nice quality camera for that money. How does it hook up?

I watched it on my busted laptop so I couldn't hear the song (watching football). I'll listen later. I got a good feel for the area though. Look like nice roads. As long as somebody doesn't pull out in front of you, you could rip right along.

 

Cool vid, Dao!
I haven't seen a cotton field in a long time....

That helmet cam takes pretty dam good vid, too. Now I'm gonna have to buy one....
It's a little bit bumpy at times, but probably just the wind hitting it?
I'm still surprised at how good the picture is on it... very cool.
Gotta be better than zip-tying a huge brick of a Canon digicam to my chin guard...

 

Thanks Joe. This is the cam-

http://cgi.ebay.com/WIRELESS-MINI-HE...d=p3286.c0.m14

2-AAA batteries and a 2G SD card and you're good for about 50 minutes. Comes with a strap that's just about too short to fit around motorcycle helmet and a USB cable to transfer vids. One button to turns the cam on, the same button starts recording. The only adjustment I've found on it is a 50-60hz switch. No idea what it does. The small page of instructions wasn't very helpful.

I just started the camera when I got to the stop sign at the end of our road and let it run. Push the button, camera and infrared targetting beam come on. Push again, beam goes off and you are in record mode. Pretty simple. Has a built in mic, I'll tape it next time to eliminate the wind noise.

Like I said, just a quick test with it, I was surprised that I had aimed it that well. I was expecting either road or sky and nothing in between. I'll play with it, try to find something interesting to shoot. The weather will have to cooperate a little better.

 

Thanks guys. The cam mounts on the side of your helmet so it's out there in the breeze. The roads here aren't the smoothest either. I was trying to turn my head enough to show the fields and stuff so that's some of it too I'm sure. Side mount seems to limit your field of vision.

Dylan, I'll get some vid when the cotton is harvested. That shiz will be all over the sides of the roads where it blows out of the wagons.

Steve, we're at the city limits if you can believe that. This is a small town, about 12,000 population. Mainly agricultural area. Lot's of pot grown here. You can really smell it when you ride at night. They do some mining south of us, some off the wall stuff used in gasoline production.

I shot 38 minutes of video which was 1.53Gig. I used Windows Movie Maker (came with my PC) to do the editing. Was very simple to do! The 6 minute file is 275mb. And yes, I'm looking at mounting it on the bike. lol

 

Yup, saved as WMV. I forgot to tape the mic so the wind noise is pretty rough, makes a very unpleasant whistle. I think my bags block my exhaust sound a bit too, couldn't hear much of it. I'll try something different next time.

The only question I don't want is "May I see your license?"

 

I have an older Hi-8 vid camera with an external mic jack. I bet I could get better sound (and picture) quality with it. Just place the mic out of the wind... It only has RCA output jacks though. Can't transfer to computer unless I get a different vid card. Then again, how the hell would I mount the damn thing?

This little camera doesn't have any adjustments. I'll use it until I figure out something better to do or until the money fairy visits.